Stand Your Ground
by selling-dreams
Summary: It's been Ten years since Millwall and West Ham have had a match, what happens when that changes?
1. Chapter 1

10 years earlier

"Both of you, you fucking cunts. Get the fuck out of my house and get the fuck out of Millwall." my uncle screamed, throwing anything he could pick up at me and my father. I dodged them easier then him and by the time we were half way down the road his head was cut. We both stopped and stared at each other for a moment before I pulled out my cigerettes and offered him one. He smiled as he took one. I flipped off a women who looked at us disapprovingly.

"Where will you go?" I asked him as he pulled out a lighter and lit his fag before handing it to me. He studied me for a while. We had had a shit year and handled I completely different, I had found friends in the people who knew the mother I had lost whereas he had shrunk and found his problems could be sold with the Millwall crowd that his brother owned.

"I was thinking of going to America." he told me; I snorted and tried to cover it up. "I'm series Bail, go to America, get away from this bullshit. Little Tommy dying, it's kind of like the last straw, you know?" he finished, taking a long drag of his fag. I nodded and placed my own ciggerette to my lips. "You should come." he knew I wouldn't. That's why he asked.

"I already made other plans." I told him, flicking ash on the floor. "Bovver said I can crash with him until I can get something on that side of the water and Terry said he will give me a job. C'mon." I moved my head and slowly we started walking and looking for somewhere to drown our sorrows.

"You be careful, the West Ham boys could cause you trouble." He eventually found a bar half way between the two waring firms.

"I bet I could cause the more." I grinned, ordering two pints. He laughed along with me, I'd been to a few games, done my duty as the only daughter of one of Millwall's top boys and I'd stood my ground and kicked ass at everyone. The barman didn't ask for ID, most of them knew there was no point with anyone in the football crowds.

"You're playing with fire, I wont be here to help you with the burns." he said. His fag was long gone and his pint was going the same way within seconds.

"I'm sure your father said the same thing to you." He nodded and I could feel him watching me as I downed all of my pint in one. I gained a few stares but i shook them off, if I was a guy no one would have even blinked an eye but I was a seventeen year old girl drinking beer and running with hooligans. I left them to think what they wanted, occasionally helping any rumours by wearing boys jeans and offensive t-shirts.

"...Send that guy a pint, say it's an appology for my brother's reaction." my father said to the barman, he nodded and pulled out a clean glass. I looked in the direction and saw the Major with a pint in his hands, he was pailer then ever with big red eyes. I knew he had been crying and blaming himself, I thought about going to hug him but I knew that my father would be leaving at the next moment he could get on a plane. He looked up when the barman handed him the drink and stared at us.

Him and my father nodded at each other. It was a nodd that said everything was going to change and somehow told me everything would be ok.


	2. Chapter 2

OK, so I'm still trying to work out how to use this website but thank you for the review. But, yeah, bear with me please.

Present day

I smiled as I handed yet another guy a pint, he grinned before drinking some and walking away. I sighed, I felt drained and tired and wanted to crawl back to bed and hide. The bar slowed down momentarily, it was always busy on a match day but today was a home game so everyone was here early.

"So, this is where you snuck off to this morning." Someone shouted at me, I heard the sound of a bar stool being moved and turned round to see Bovver sat watching me, his hand half over his mouth as if he was in deep thought.

"Yes, Bovv, work." I said, smiling as I leaned over the bar and kissed him carefully on the cheek. He laughed quietly in my ear.

"Aye aye." I heard Swill shout as he saw how close our faces were, I moved away and walked towards he beer pumps, I already knew what they would order, the same as they always did. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Swill thump Bovver on the back and heard him mutter some form of swear word.

"Cheers Sweet." Swill said as I put the beer in front of them, I nodded as I took the money and placed it in the till. Slowly all of the guys turned up except Pete and they moved away from the bar to a corner table which was more accommodating to a crowd. At some point Bovver came back to the bar and sat on a stool right in front of me. He watched me with a weird smile on his face, finally I stopped serving people long enough to talk to him.

"You working at the match?" he asked me.

"Yup, Hammers play home, I work." I told him, running my hand through my long black hair. He nodded and placed his glass against his lips.

"I'll walk you there then, who knows what will happen after." he said with a wink. I laughed at the innocent expression on his face. I laughed and leaned towards him, he moved his face so that I could only kiss his lips this time and smirked.

"I think I have an idea." I whispered, gently pressing my lips against his, a few guys cheered and I rolled my eyes, after ten years of kissing over the bar you'd of thought they would be more grown up about it. I'd been so distracted by Bovver that I hadn't seen Pete come in and I certainly hadn't seen the other guy come in with us.

"I'm gonna go say Hi to Pete." He whispered, kissing me on the lips again and walking off with his pint. I smiled as he did and walked towards Kieth who ordered enough beer for all of the guys at the ever growing table. I was still pouring the beers when some one came over to help Kieth carry them off, Keith didn't try and stop him so I didn't make an effort to. I carried the last two beers over to the table myself. Pete got up and hugged me as I got there. Bovver had left the table again, he was in arse-wipe mood then.

"Bailey, this is Matt, Shannon's brother. Matt this is Bailey, Bovver's girl." He said, Matt went to shake my hand but I shook my head.

"What's he doing here then?" I asked, running my hand through my hair again. Shannon had told me stuff about him before, he wasn't the kind of guy you let near your firm, especially not on match day.

"Leave it out love, Bovver already tried it." he said, drinking some of his drink as if to close the subject. I shrugged.

"He's a miserable cunt, Matt, don't think about it. He don't like anyone." I told him, ruffling his hair and then walking back to the bar. There was never enough beer on a Saturday. I was pretty much desperate for a sit down once my shift had finished, I quickly pulled myself a pint and walked back to the guys table. Bovver grinned and pretty much pulled me into his lap.

"If we win this match, I'm going to propose." he said, holding up his beer and tapping mine.

"If you did that every time you said you would, I have a hundred engagement rings." I laughed, kissing his nose, he pushed me away aware of the fact that all the guys would tease him about that. I leaned my head on his shoulder as the guys tried to explain different rules of football to Matt.

Someone on the other side of the bar started shouting chants and within seconds all of the guys were on their feet shouting along. Most of them just stood by the bar whereas Bovver pushed his way towards a table and stood on it, making sure everyone could hear him.

"This is the hammer's song." I told Matt as the whole room burst into the chants of forever blowing bubbles. When they'd finished and Matt sort of knew the words I clapped him on the shoulder and walked towards the blokes bathroom. Bovver had seen me go and soon I felt his hands on my hips and smiled.

Once we were in there, and someone had passed me my bag from behind the bar, I brushed my hair and pulled it into a bun on the back of my head. I applied some make-up which isn't something I normally wear and moved towards the cubicle so I could change into my smart white blouse. It left enough cleavage on show to get me some attention. I then changed my trainers for a pair of high heels that changed the way my whole posture looked. I was already wearing smartish black jeans.

I froze when I heard the outside door open, two shadows were moving around outside.

"Friend of the family, ey? Pete might be showing you a bit of courtesy, you being Shan's brother 'n' all but get it straight, we don't like outsiders." I heard Bovver say. The door opened and closed and there was only one shadow left. I walked out to see Matt staring at himself in the mirror. His jaw dropped when he looked at me.

"Like I said, he dont like anyone." I told him before walking away.


	3. Chapter 3

I felt Matt behind me as the door opened and shut again.

"C'mon then." I said to him, unable to hide my grin. Match day's were exciting, almost intoxicating, made worse by the company I kept.

"Someone better mark our territory." Dave said, putting his arm around my shoulders and leading me out of the pub, I just had enough time to grab my camera off of Terry. I'm sure Matt was behind me and I'm sure I saw Bovver smack into him. "Cos with them slimy journos around, we could lose our girl." He said, grinning right in my face. I heard Pete's laugh and put my head on Dave's shoulder so my mouth was close to his ear.

"Not fucking likely." I whispered before shouting "United" as loud as I could. He pushed me away and covered his ear whilst all the other guys clapped. I smirked at him and felt someone knock into me. There was Bovv, standing next to me and scowling as he always did.

"Do me a favor?" he whispered in my ear. I looked up into his eyes and nodded. "Steal us one of them stupid jackets you wear." he went back to looking ahead.

"I can try." I told him. He nodded at me again and without thinking we shifted so that we were in lines, we always stood in lines and in the same order. I'd noticed other firms do it as well. It came naturally to us now. We all began chanting the hammers song, every now and then mixing in a united and some claps.

It was a short walk to the stadium, one that we did in a large crowd. Most of the guys pulled their hoods or collars up as we got closer but I knew I couldn't, I had to find my rather understanding boss. When I couldn't find him I began to bite my lip slowly until I heard someone shouting out my Publishing name.

"There you are Lou." My bosses assistant said, pulling me through the media entrance and handing me my media jacket. I never used my real name, it was too risky being part of a firm but it also saved my uncle, and my father when he still cared, the embarrassment of me having anything to do with journos. Even if I was only taking pictures.

"I almost panicked then." I smirked at him, he laughed nervously. "Look," I changed my voice to sound innocent and stepped closer. He was awkward looking and you could tell he never got laid. "I know your not meant to do this, but my friend is such a huge fan, I would love to be able to take him into the media lines." I fluttered my eyelashes a few times but he shook his head. "Please? It's his birthday and I'll do something to return the favor." I said, tugging on the skin on my lip.

"Fine." he groaned, pulling out another jacket from his bag and handing it to me. "But you owe me Lou." I beamed up at him and kissed him on the cheek before skipping off to find Bovver.

"Did you see that? Bloody girl gets everyone wrapped around her finger." Pete told Matt as they watched Baily flirt with a guy Matt thought he recognized. He didn't say anything as they watched her skip back to Bovver. "The Muppet thinks he's pulled as well, like she'd ever go near a journo. Even got Bovver to act like her little puppy dog." He finished, shaking his head and walking to the stands.

"Does it matter? If there together, I mean." Matt stuttered. He couldn't understand why everyone hated journo's so much or why everyone was saying so many things that didn't add up.

"The thing is, they're not. Sure they kiss and fuck 'n' all that but it ain't nothing steady. Both got bad tempers see, it's just easier to call her his. She's off limits anyhow. Anyway c'mon it's football day." He said, dropping his voice as low as it would go.

I watched most of the match through the lens of my camera, not allowing myself to get to involved in case I missed a shot. I managed to get some good ones which was promising. It was just before half time when I risked looking up into the crowed, I saw the guys, cheering and jumping, Matt as lively as all the others, I smiled at the look on his face before turning back to the game.

Bovver hadn't been in the crowd though. I looked back through the lens and followed the ball like I always did, something made me stop though. I risked a look over at the Birmingham fans and groaned, there was Bovver bold as brass swearing and shouting at them. It took two security guards to drag him off and I couldn't help take a picture of the three men battle. It was one to annoy him with later.

I went back to the match as quickly as I could and panicked and took some not so good shots of one of the Birmingham players. The rest of the match was quick, with two more goals from West Ham, meaning we won. I snuck out through the media entrance and got to Bovver before any of the guys did. I still had the camera swinging round my neck, I felt him twist the strap round his fingers.

"How long before you get me fired, you fucking genius." I laughed, hugging him. He laughed back and pulled out a box of cigarettes out his pocket and handed me one.

"Gotta get my kicks somehow." he said as I pulled out my lighter and handed it to him. It was around then that the rest of the guys came out.

"Fucking quality son, fucking quality." Dave said as they all congratulated him, Swill nodded at me.

"You're the stuff of legends." Pete said, pulling him into a strangely manly hug.

"Yeah, well, you had your hand's full didn't ya bruv." He replied. still in a bad mood them.

"Don't worry, it ain't over yet boys, word is these twats are gonna have a pop." Dave said, emphasizing the P sound.

"What you heard?" the were getting excited now.

"Ahh, the usual, fucking zoo-losers, there's like 50 more of them mobbing up the tube right now. It's gonna kick off near East Ham." Dave told us, somehow he always knew what the other firms were going to do next. The boys all said their pieces about finding them. They began to walk off.

"Maybe I should head home?" Matt shouted, Pete walked back to him to talk to him about basic tube safety on a match day.

"Look, I gotta head off as well, send these pictures off." I said, leaning up and kissing Bovver on the cheek.

"See you at the pub later then?" He asked me, trying to kiss me again. I nodded walking off, "For fuck sake, wouldn't he be better in a creche?" Bovv shouted as he heard what Pete was saying, I caught up with Matt easily as we walked in the same direction.


	4. Chapter 4

We walked quietly, both keeping our heads down a little bit. I wasnt sure what to say to him but strangly it didnt feel awkward. We hadn't been walking long before I heard running footsteps behind us.

We started running.

Matt wasn't very fast and I was wearing high heels so by the time we had got out from under the bridge one of them had managed to grab me. He was stronger than he looked and with me not feeling well he overpowered me easily. Two of them grabbed Matt and held him against the wall.

I could feel my heart pounding in my ears as the one who held me smashed me against the wall forcefully, I only just managed to stop my face from touching it but my camera wasn't so lucky, it was that that made me groan.

"I don't want any trouble." Matt said, his voice was high and he sounded as though he was paniking.

"A fucking yank! What's a yank doing with the GSE?" the man asked, his birmingham accent stood out. Was that their head? The one who was holding me shook me slightly, trying to get me to answer.

"He's not." I said, trying to stop my face from being smushed. I went to kick at the man who was holding me but I couldn't find him with my legs.

"GSE. I dont know anything about the GSE I'm just a tourist." Mat squealed. If he was telling the truth it raised a lot of questions, but it also ment he couldn't be here undercover. I felt myself being tugged and pushed against another wall, this time I could see all four of the men who had hold of us, but I still dont think I could have landed a good hit without loosing my balance.

"Oh well, in that case, how about we leave you with a proper souvinour. Ever heard of a Chelsea Grin?" the man who wasn't holding anyone said, I recognised him but couldn't remember a name. He liked to think he was high up but they gave him the crap jobs. Matt started begging them, trying to fight but they had even got his legs held back. "Do you take American Express?" They pushed him harder up the wall and squeezed the credit card into his mouth, within seconds it was splitting his cheek. The guy holding me stopped watching that and began looking down my top.

"You touch me you're dead." I pretty much growled, he only smirked.

"I bet the major gave out his fair share of Chelsea Grins back in the god ol' days, ey? Back when the GSE weren't so sloppy to leave one of their own behind." He said, laughing as he took a step back.

Suddenly there was Pete, grabbing the guy and headbutting him to the floor.

"We don't leave our mates behind." he shouted, grabbing Matt and pulling him away from the two guys holding him. I used that as an opportunity to push the heel of my shoe right into the man holding me's family jewles. The guys started battering the four blokes until they started running. We ran after them, Ike running to get the van. When we were out of the alley all four of them had gone. Slowly we climbed into the van, which smelt disgusting.

Ike was just changing gear when something hit the window. The guy who had been holding me was stood infront of the van swearing at us. It was dumb of us but when did that stop anyone, we got out of the car and followed the bloke. There right infront of us was every member of the Zoo-Loo's ready for a go.

"This is where you start learning mate." I shouted at the yank, winking at him. The usual chants were shouted and then things were thrown. We might have been outnumbered but we did some damage before Bovv and some other guys got there.

Bovv stopped when he saw me and walked over, the other guys ran after the Birmingham lads so they could get their kicks. I laughed as Bovv stood next to me, annalising every part of me he could.

"Perfect timing." I told him, running my hand through my hair. It was gunky, sweat or blood? My lip was throbbing too, which guy punched me? I'm pretty sure someone had tried to punch me in the boobs too. Cunts. Bovv laughed at my smirk and placed a small peck on my lips before walking towards Pete, this was a mans game and I shouldn't of been here. I gave this shit up when I was younger.

The guys started teasing Matt about how shit his punches were as we bagan walking back to the pub. The van could wait, it was about as fucked as Dave.


End file.
